Cane Field Goes To Highest Bidder

TALLAHASSEE — Pahokee Farms` sweet deal on a sugar cane field was canceled Tuesday when the state auctioned off the lease on the 2,725-acre site to the highest bidder.

With virtually no discussion, the governor and state Cabinet accepted a bid from Closter Farms to pay $1,165,231 a year, about $427 an acre, for the state-owned lands.

Pahokee Farms Inc. has been paying only $125 an acre -- though it raised its price during the bidding process and offered the state $337 an acre, or $919,562. But that was only the third-highest bid.

The state`s action marked the end of an era when rentals of public land in the Everglades Agricultural Area were extended indefinitely. Pahokee Farms` lease, for example, was 24 years old.

``Before, (farming operations) sort of had an agreement among them -- it was unofficial -- that they wouldn`t bid against each other,`` said Elton Gissendanner, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources. ``Those days are over now.

``This is the first one that`s gone to bid. All the rest of them (now) will be going to bid,`` Gissendanner said.

He estimated the state may earn an additional $2 million to $3 million from renegotiated leases. The state owns 19,000 acres in the Everglades Agricultural Area.

The Pahokee Farms site, the largest public tract under cultivation, is prized for the high fertility of its muck soil. It also is considered to be virtually frostproof because winds off nearby Lake Okeechobee prevent ice formation.

There was no testimony Tuesday against handing over the fields to the highest bidder.